ANNA BOROWY

„Bitter Sweet“Öl auf Leinwand / oil on canvas180 x 150 cm2018

WHERE THE DARK THINGS ARE

Ariane: The figures in your paintings embody a contradiction: they seem physically so close, coming out of the painting at me, but emotionally, through the eyes, they seem remote.

Anna: Yes I work with this feeling of disconnection, of being lost in our times. Because of what is happening politically, what is happening in our environment, our society, how other countries must work for us so that we can live how we want, yet we don’t see or know them. We’re disconnected from each other and also disconnected from nature. Big cities are mfull of people yet so many live in a kind of isolation. And if you work a standard job in a big company you are also forced to disconnect, to leave your true self at home when you go to the office. It all feels so wrong. You also feel this when you encounter other people and talk to them, they feel a little lost and alone, not knowing what they should believe about what is happening all around them. I intend with my paintings to show that I believe that it’s important that we become more connected to each other again and more authentic with each other. My paintings often bring in animals who are communicating with the people, as in fables or fairy tales. The animals in fairy tales often have a piece of wisdom for the humans. They can tell us what to do when we’re at a loss, or they can remind us of our heritage: that at our origin we were much more connected.

Ariane: You often choose to paint white wolves, and in the new work, black swans. What is your fascination with specifically these animals?

Anna: The wolf is my power animal, my spirit animal. The fact that they almost died out in this area but now are coming back, this tremendous power they have to have to survive, the resilience, fascinates me. And the black swan symbolizes an intuition from deep inside. I had been thinking about this sense we have that something is going on underneath the surface, something we cannot articulate. I was wondering how to paint this feeling, and then the swans came to mind. For me a black swan is also a way to say a dark bird, and birds are another way of talking about people. An odd bird, etc. By dark I don’t mean a negative thing, it’s dark as in deep. And I am fascinated by strange, deep souls who don’t entirely fit in this reality.

Ariane: I love the fairy tale quality of your paintings. There is an innocence to them, and yet there is also a darkness, something unsettling, sad or dangerous, which all the best fairy tales have. I’m reminded of the American children’s book creator, Maurice Sendak. He’s sometimes called the Picasso of children’s literature. In his classic book Where the Wild Things Are, the little boy, Max, encounters these terrible monsters and when he looks them in their yellow eyes without blinking, he becomes their king, the king of the wild things.Sendak would explain how children need monsters and scary things in their stories, so they can cope with scary things in the real world. But this is also true of adults, I think. The philosopher Joseph Campbell, who studied myths and archetypes, loved that book, Where the Wild Things Are: he said that only when a man tames his demons can he become king of himself.

Anna: Yes, yes, it’s true.

Ariane: And on the wall of your studio you painted this line: “The land where all things are perfect and poisonous.”

Anna: It’s exactly this, yes. I also thought about how perfection can be poisonous. This striving for perfection which is all over society—that we think we need to be perfect, that we hide our insecurities, because we think everybody else is perfect, but no one is and no one will ever be—this is toxic. It poisons your soul, your whole being. It hinders people from developing their authentic personality.

Ariane: Yes, we’ve talked about authenticity before, because I’ve been struck how you have gone your own way, regardless of what seem to me to be the trends of the art world.

Anna: Yeah, when I was at art school many students were working conceptually, often very large scale, or ugly trashy colors, very dark scenes of rape or disfigurement, a lot of aggressive and depressive work. The uglier, the more aggressive and anxious the art was, the more it was “real art.” People think this is how it must be done to be a real artist. But if you’re always watching to see what others are doing, what the trend is, what the collectors want, then you can’t develop your own style and your own stories. And that’s really the most important thing.

Ariane: I think you’re either very brave or very stubborn, that you were able to stick with your own style and not waver, from such a young age. But when you do a commission, like a commissioned portrait, you do have to take the wishes of your client into consideration, right? What is that like?

Anna: I think it requires courage. In my own work I will depict someone who looks lost or sad but it’s not the right thing for a commission. I don’t want them to stare at a sad portrait of themselves and have that bring sadness into their life. The person should feel good about how they come across. I want the portrait to be a positive affirmation, to create good karma.

Ariane: So you believe that the painting has the power to do that, to bring a certain kind of energy into someone’s life.

Anna: I think so. I hope so. This is what I aim to do with my paintings: to bring about a story in which you can get lost in a place beyond the rational world of what we can see and touch, you can lose yourself there, and then bring something back from the journey.

Writer and editor Ariane Conrad partners with thought-leaders, activists, and superheroes to produce non-fiction books about world-changing ideas. She has co-created three New York Times bestsellers.

„Great writer. Great person. Great politics. There is no way my books would have gotten done in such short order, so beautifully, without her. Period.“ -VAN JONES

www.arianeconrad.com

A conversation between painter Anna Borowy and writer Ariane Conrad.

„Secret“Öl auf Leinwand / oil on canvas180 x 150 cm2017

„Versteck“Öl auf Leinwand / oil on canvas

140 x 120 cm2017

CV Anna Borowy

1985 born in Uelzen, Germany

2001 studio Ralph Siegel, Städlschule Frankfurt, Frankfurt a. M., Germany

2003 - 2010

Liberal Arts at University of Arts Weissensee in the class of Prof. Werner Liebmann, Berlin, Germany

2010 Masterclass of Prof. Werner Liebmann at University of Arts Weissensee, Berlin

Anna Borowy lives and works in Berlin since 2003

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2018 „Darkest Birds“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2016 „Let‘s Get Lost“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2015 „Fancy Drugs“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2014 „Vergissmeinnicht“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2013 „Cryptical Flowers and Subtle Perfumes“, von Fraunberg art gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany

2012 „Champagnerbad“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

„Bis ans Ende der Welt“, Galerie Gruppe 10, Bielefeld, Germany

2011 „Hinter den Spiegeln“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2010 „Sicht und Schein“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2017 „Fad & Fury“, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2016 Marstall Museum, Schwerin, Germany

„Kunstkontakter Goes Bananas“, Villa Kult, Berlin

2015 Museum Schloss Rheydt, Mönchengladbach, Germany

Berlinische Galerie, museum for contemporary art, Berlin

Mianki gallery, Berlin

I AMsterdam YOU BErlin, St. Johannes-Evangelist-Kirche, Berlin

„Alles schön und gut?!“, curator: Kristin Danger, artists: Anna Borowy, Will Cotton, Martin Eder, Malgosia Jankowska, Pierre & Gilles, Mel Ramos, Marco Reichert, Stefan Strumbel, Thukral & Tagra et al., Herbert-Gerisch-Foundation, Neumünster, Germany

2014 „L’Esprit de Berlin – Talking Saint Tropez“, Lavoir Vasserot, Saint Tropez, France

I AMsterdam YOU BErlin, St. Johannes-Evangelist-Kirche, Berlin

2013 „Die Leinwand des Leibes – Körperkult als neue soziale Plastik“, Künstlerverein Walkmühle, Wiesbaden, Germany

„URBANFUSE – Berlin meets New York“, curated by Matthias Bergemann, supported by Prof. Werner Liebmann (University of Arts Berlin Weissensee), Peter Drake (New York Academy of Art) and the US Embassy in Berlin, Berlin, Germany

2012 „As Time Goes By“, Anna Borowy, Donata Benker, Lori Field, Mara Wagenführ, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2011 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York City, USA

„HotSpot Berlin – Eine Momentaufnahme“, Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin, featuring a benefit auction with Simon de Pury

2010 „Test“, Motorenhalle der Uferhallen, University of Arts Weissensee, Berlin

Anna Borowy and Marco Reichert, janinebeangallery, Berlin

2009 „Ploetzlich“, class of Liebmann and Lucander (University of Arts Weissensee), Uferhallen, Berlin

2008 „UM08“, Art Festival of the Freunde der Uckermark e.v., Germany

2008 „her mit dem schönen Leben“, Galerie Jonny‘s, Berlin

2003 „The Arche“, Hameln, Germany

Art Fairs

2017 Scope Basel, featured by janinebeangallery

2016 Scope Miami Beach, featured by janinebeangallery

ART Amsterdam, featured by janinebeangallery

2015 SLICK art fair Paris, France, featured by janinebeangallery

POSITIONS art fair, Berlin, Germany

SCOPE Basel, Switzerland, featured by janinebeangallery

2013 Preview Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Germany

Art Karlsruhe, Germany, featured by janinebeangallery

2012 Art Karlsruhe, Germany, featured by janinebeangallery

SCOPE Basel, Switzerland, featured by janinebeangallery

Art Wynwood, Miami, USA, featured by 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel

2011 Aqua Art Fair, Miami, USA, featured by 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel

SCOPE Basel, Switzerland, featured by janinebeangallery

SCOPE New York, USA, featured by janinebeangallery

2010 SCOPE Basel, Switzerland, featured by janinebeangallery

Art Karlsruhe, Germany, featured by janinebeangallery

janinebeangallery | Torstrasse 154 | 10115 Berlinwww.janinebeangallery.com

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